Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Daytona 500 Champion William Byron Describes His Crazy Week

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Daytona 500 Champion William Byron Describes His Crazy Week · Kenny Wallace Media

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  It's been fun. I mean I I enjoyed all the stuff
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  that I got to do this week, just especially because it was
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  something unique and different and I felt like it was really
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  interesting. A lot of interesting questions
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  and just different outlets trying to learn about the sport.
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  So tried my best to to do a good job and just honestly was
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  running on adrenaline for for 2-3 days And I think, you know
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  back to the racetrack now and trying to get to work.
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  But yeah, I enjoyed it. As much as I am quiet, I feel
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  like most of my quiet time is spent at the racetrack when I'm
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  trying to do my work and and focus on my job.
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  Steven, Toronto, CBS Sports. It was referenced that you were
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  in New York and I feel like I want to say you've been there
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  before, but I know this was a pretty extensive experience.
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  So I guess I'll ask, how was the media tour and how did you enjoy
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  your experience in New York City?
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  Yeah. So my sister lives up there so I
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  go up and visit her probably once a year.
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  But but yeah, I I enjoyed it a lot.
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  I mean like I said it was a lot of cool, cool outlets and just,
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  I mean I think the best way to go around New York is in a in a
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  car service just going place to place so we don't have to walk
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  anywhere. So it was very unique situation
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  but but very cool and just thankful to NASCAR that they put
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  that together. I wasn't sure how it was going
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  to go getting on the plane Monday night and I was a little
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  bit nervous about it all, but I thought they managed it really
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  well. So it was it was super smooth
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  and the Empire State Building was probably one of the coolest
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  aspects, just being able to go up there and and see the views.
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  You mentioned all the different media outlets trying to learn
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  about NASCAR and you know you're on SNY and were you on WFAN by
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  any chance? Probably so.
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  OK, just checking. But you know the the thing about
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  winning the Daytona 500 is that it's really is transformative in
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  the sense that it takes, you know, someone's standing in the
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  sport to an entirely new level. And know you've in the past week
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  and going forward you're really going to be serving as an
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  ambassador for NASCAR and for the Daytona 500.
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  I guess what I would what I would ask you is I know it's
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  only been five days, but have you started to grasp exactly
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  what being the Daytona 500 champion has done and will do
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  for you? I don't think so, not yet.
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  I mean just there's a lot of different aspects to it.
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  You know, I feel like the the big thing for us is being able
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  to start the year like that with a lot of momentum for a lot of
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  different reasons. You know, for our team to be
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  able to you know lock ourselves in and and also for sponsor
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  engagement things like that. So I feel like for me personally
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  it just is a, it's a huge relief and and something that I'm
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  really, you know, excited to to, you know, carry down the road.
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  I read Spencer with the NASCAR Wire.
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  This is a process question. You've had great success here at
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  Atlanta. How do you negotiate the two
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  different pit Rd. speeds from the time you get off?
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  Get off the track? Do you have how?
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  How do you know how fast you're going you?
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  Do you have two sets of lights? Do you downshift during the
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  during the 90 mile, an hour section?
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  That sort of stuff. Yeah, it's a great question.
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  You know what I vividly remember from last year is just you know
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  coming off turn to there's a a couple break markers and I feel
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  like you know it's they did a good job last year kind of
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  bringing those break markers into play.
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  But you know typically we don't use the left side of the track
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  to really you know judge where we're going to break for pit Rd.
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  on on an Oval. So it's very unique and then
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  like you said you're not getting down to 45, you're getting down
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  to 90. So the gearing is a lot
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  different, the lights are built way differently.
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  I think we we chose to go with third gear this time.
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  Last time we were in fourth. So I feel like just trying to
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  understand the cadence there. My engineers just sent me a
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  bunch of stuff and some some you know, layouts to make sure I'm
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  aware of what lights I need to run.
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  But biggest thing is don't speed because you know you're under
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  green. Going that section is not that
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  important in in comparison to being a couple laps down here.
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  So you can go a couple laps down with how long that that pit Rd.
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  is. Now your race is ruined, so you
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  just got to not speed. Spencer Catch.
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  Fence. Your father couldn't be at
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  Daytona. What was it like when you
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  finally saw him for the first time?
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  Yeah. So I didn't see him till later
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  in the week. He he's still he's he's better
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  now. He just had a pretty severe
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  cold. But he.
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  But yeah the coolest part was I was driving home from the shop
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  on Wednesday afternoon after we did the toast and it was maybe
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  our second or third conversation on the phone.
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  But he yeah, we were just talking about the race and
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  something came up about racing for Dale Junior and how, you
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  know, in 2014 that's the last time Hendrick won a 500.
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  And that's when I was driving for Dale in The Late Models and
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  he was just super emotional and he just, I've never really heard
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  him over the phone get that choked up.
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  But it was really special to hear that and just to, you know,
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  having been through this journey with him and going to the
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  racetrack every weekend together, starting out, it was
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  very special. So you haven't seen him
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  physically yet? I did.
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  I saw him Thursday, so, so, yeah, but so yeah, we got to, we
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  got to share some time and with my whole team really.
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  So we we did a little party downtown.
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  You've made two grown men cry. Your dad and Rudy, right?
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  I mean it's. A little, A little crazy, for
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  sure. I never thought I'd see the day
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  when Rudy would cry, but he was. He was a basket of emotions up
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  there. I I was told it took the Netflix
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  deal for you finally to get in the back door at Lego.
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  Is that accurate? Yeah, I mean we're working on it
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  for sure. I I'd love to have a Lego car
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  out there. I think they could be do so many
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  unique things with that design, but certainly still going to
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  build and you know, I got to work on my next project here
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  soon. I got some ideas, so they're
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  going to send me a quite a few sets, so that'd be nice.
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  No more eBay. I usually go on eBay and get get
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  the Lego sets because they're so back they're back ordered, but
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  but yeah. We'll go right up there to
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  Charles and then Kelly. Charles Autumn with Associated
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  Press. So you have two wins here since
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  the reconfiguration. So obviously you're comfortable
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  with the high banks on a mile and a half, but I get the idea
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  that maybe that's not a consensus opinion in in in in
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  the garages. Do you hear during views on on
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  on this track and do you think it's an old school, new school
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  kind of thing? Yeah, I mean, look, you know,
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  we've been really fortunate that it's worked out for us a couple
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  times. I mean, the first, the first
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  win, we're pretty dominant here, LED over 100 laps and put
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  ourselves in a good position. But since then, you know, it's,
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  it's gotten even more chaotic. There's two, two and three wide
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  and you know, it seems like everyone's really figured out
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  the draft here. So it's unique for sure.
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  I wouldn't want to do it every week, but I do enjoy the
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  challenge of it and I think it's a super exciting show from from
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  the fans. I mean, you think about the
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  attendance here, you know, when it was the old, old layout and
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  then you know, seeing how packed it was here in July.
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  So, you know, it seems like the fans like it and like I said, I
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  don't want to do it every week, but I enjoy the the aspect of
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  drafting and lifting a little bit and all the different things
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  that come with it. Let's go to Kelly and then Bob.
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  Kelly Crandall racer.com William With two super Speedway drafting
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  tracks back-to-back with Daytona, Atlanta, Do you
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  anticipate it would be a bigger mental or physical toll after
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  tomorrow's race? Yeah, I mean, look, I think in
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  the offseason I was like, man, don't crash in the first two
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  races because you're going to be pretty beat up.
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  So yeah, I think it'll be, it'll be physical for sure if you're
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  in some some crashes. But you know this track is not
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  overly physical. It's kind of right there in the
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  middle I would say. But as we get to some of the
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  short tracks and really scheduled in March and in April,
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  it'll be, you know you'll you'll need to be prepared for those.
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  But we got a little ways to go. So there's still some, you know,
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  training and prep to try to get ready for this stretch here.
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  Bob Parker's Fox Sports. The fact this race is now in the
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  playoffs, does that change anything as far as maybe that
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  you're locked into the trying something or anything does
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  change the dynamic at all for you?
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  Yeah. I mean, it just makes the race a
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  little more important for us. We we just have to have a
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  notebook for this race and so we need to understand what our
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  setup needs to be and kind of tinker with that going here back
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  to the fall. So we can't really try much here
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  because we want to have a good day to point for the fall and
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  knowing hey our car drove pretty well.
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  So, you know, lots out of your control here.
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  But you know hopefully we can have a good driving car and good
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  strategy and you know just get a little bit of an idea for the
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  fall. So if it wasn't in the playoffs
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  you would potentially experiment.
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  Yeah, I think you would just you wouldn't put a whole lot of
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  weight especially coming off you know a win.
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  Last year here we just had the point penalty, so we had a lot
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  of making up to do, but but this year it being in the playoffs,
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  there's there's a new importance to it.
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  Let's go to Dustin and then we'll go right back here.
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  Dustin Long, NBC Sports. William has been a lot of talk
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  this week just about the fuel saving that you guys had to do
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  last week. Obviously, I know fuel savings
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  always a key in any event and has been for a long time, but
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  just how excessive it seemed to be from a fan's perspective.
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  Is there anything that can be looked at or considered in terms
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  of that would allow you guys not to be as focused or concerned
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  about fuel saving in a Speedway type of race like last week?
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  Yeah, it's a very complex problem because you know, I
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  think anytime, you know if you if you shorten the amount of
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  fuel we have in the cars, you're just going to make the windows
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  smaller and then you're going to have the same issue or the same
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  thing happening where you're trying to have a a shorter pit
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  stop. So it's just evolution and
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  technology us, you know, it's really just human humans
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  figuring out what the best strategy is.
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  So I'm surprised it wasn't more of a thing earlier on.
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  But I think with this package having track position be so
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  important, with there being so much drag on the cars and really
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  too wide, it's very difficult just to shoot your way to the
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  front from the back. So I don't know what this, what
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  the, you know, with the adjustment that needs to be
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  made, but definitely it's not the most fun thing to do.
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  But I'm going to do whatever it takes to win the race.
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  So I feel like we were pretty smart about it.
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  If you look at, you know, probably our average running
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  position last week, it wasn't what people would think, but we
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  would always cycle forward, have a chance to race it out for the
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  stage win and have a chance at the end.
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  So I'm just going to do whatever the the rules tell me to do.
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  Steve Willis, speedwaydigest.com.
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  So you're the first Daytona 500 winner to start on AE platform
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  and now it's kind of perpetuated itself between amateur drivers
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  and even now teams starting their own teams to bring some of
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  these drivers into the fold in a non traditional route.
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  As you look to those who are starting that kind of career
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  path and not getting directly into a car first, what do you,
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  what do you, what do you see as far as those next group of
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  drivers that are coming up And you know what is your, what
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  would be a suggestion to them as they start their career in kind
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  of a path that you did versus getting in a car first?
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  I think just having fun with it. If it is like what I see from a
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  lot of young kids going to the karting track and going to or
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  racing on I racing. It's just people are taking it
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  way too seriously, way too soon. I feel like you just have to
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  really enjoy what you do, try to learn, try to get better as a
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  driver, learn more about the sport and then eventually you
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  know, by the time you get to this level you're going to feel
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  a lot of pressure. So I think not putting too much
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  pressure on yourself at an early age to try to, you know, be the
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  best. I think just try to get out
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  there, experience things, enjoy driving the race car and and see
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  what you can do with it.